By Michael E.C. Gery, October 2011
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As Hurricane Irene churned its way toward land Friday, August 26, eastern North Carolina expected the worst and got it the next day. Prepared as families and businesses were for this storm, given the dire warnings and extensive news coverage during its approach, no one was prepared for the destruction and heartbreak it caused.
When Irene made landfall around 7:30 a.m., Saturday, August 27, at Cape Lookout it was downgraded to a Category 1 storm but still carried 85 miles-per-hour sustained winds and later spawned tornadoes that exceeded 130 mph. Its very wide path — hurricane force winds extending 90 miles outward, tropical storm force winds to 290 miles — tracked at about 15 mph northward, centered over Pamlico and Beaufort counties in mid-afternoon, then northeastward over Albemarle Sound and into Hampton Roads, Va. The storm sent the waters of Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, and the Pamlico and Neuse rivers, westerly at first, then returned a fierce surge easterly as the month’s new moon caused a bloated high tide.
Eastern North Carolina’s electric cooperatives stood by their storm centers monitoring conditions and issuing statements to members via news releases and online postings. As weather allowed their crews to inspect their systems safely, 15 cooperatives began reporting damage. More than 239,900 member meters were knocked out of service, leaving families and businesses without electric power. Virtually all power was cut off to Hatteras Island, Ocracoke Island and Craven, Pamlico, Beaufort and Hyde counties. System damage and outages extended from Pender County north to Warren County and all points east. Early estimates of damage to the electric distribution systems came to about $12 million and continued to rise.
While people struggled to reorder their lives, having lost water and refrigerated food, as they wrung out flood-soaked clothing and carried into open air furniture, rugs and beds, as they tried removing trees and limbs that had crushed their buildings and gouged their grounds, as some even lost their homes entirely, they turned by the tens of thousands to their electric cooperatives for news of when their power would be restored.
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